Bob Andrews, In New Orleans (Independent)

 

Around town, Bob Andrews is known as a sideman, playing with John Mooney and Johnny Sansone this year at Jazz Fest. He has a weekly solo piano night at Dos Jefes, but he first made his name as a member of British pub rock mainstays Brinsley Schwarz with Schwarz and Nick Lowe, then he was a part of Graham Parker and the Rumour through Parker’s heyday from 1976 through 1979. Those who only know Parker from the Squeezing Out Sparks album missed the albums when the Rumour was a hard, excellent R&B band.

 

In New Orleans’ brief liner notes recall Andrews’ first visit to New Orleans in 1974, when he came looking to meet one of his favorite singers, Lee Dorsey. He covers Dorsey’s “Gotta Find a Job” on In New Orleans, and it’s one of the highlights. He steps into the New Orleans piano tradition without losing himself, so when he moves on to Roosevelt Sykes’ “Gulfport Boogie,” they sound unified by the personality of the pianist. The most eccentric moment on the CD is an elegant version of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Die” that sounds like it could be a Christmas song. Since covers of Williams rarely take such a liberty, it’s particularly interesting. Andrews’ vocals are good enough, but his understanding of American blues piano shows where much of Parker’s soul came from. (For an interview with Bob Andrews, see “I Heard a Rumour” in Rawls’ “Pop Life” column at OffBeat.com.)